Winspace, Quick Pro, X-Lab and Amflow are names that were barely on the radar of many Western cyclists a couple of years ago. Now we see them in the WorldTour, on the front pages of major cycling publications, and increasingly on shop floors outside Asia.
Over the last few years, Chinese brands have rapidly made headway in global markets with cheaper, more affordable bikes and components. It seems they're about to truly disrupt the whole industry, and given the speed at which they're coming in, that's not wholly untrue. While doing interviews for this industry series, barely a single conversation happened without at least one mention about these brands – but many sources also told Escape Collective this development is no surprise.
So the question we set out to answer in this episode dedicated to the rise of Chinese brands isn't all about what happened, but why.
Did we do a good job with this story?
